EU To Reassess Ties After Swiss Voters Back Migrant Curbs

Photo
taken on February 6, 2014 in Zurich shows a man walking past an
electoral poster against the "Stop Mass Immigration" referendum
by the Swiss People's PartyMichael
Buholzer/AFP

The European Commission said it would assess EU ties with
Switzerland after the Alpine country voted Sunday to limit
immigration from the European Union, its biggest trading partner
by far.

"The EU will examine the implications of this initiative on
EU-Swiss relations as a whole," said a statement after Swiss
results showed a narrow victory for a proposal pushed by
right-wing populists.

The European Commission said it "regrets" the Swiss vote, which
"goes against the principle of free movement of persons between
the EU and Switzerland."

Although Switzerland is not an EU member, it signed onto the EU
accord for free movement of citizens in 1999 and implemented it
from 2002.

While Sunday's vote focused only on that issue, fall-out from the
result could imperil Switzerland's trade with the big European
bloc, which its economy depends on. Brussels has already made it
clear that Bern cannot cherry-pick among EU advantages.

An estimated 400,000 Swiss citizens live in the EU, many of them
dual nationals, while more than a million EU citizens currently
live in Switzerland.